


At the End of the World

by RavenDreamer



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: F/F, Femslash February, Fluff and Angst, Love Confessions, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:08:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22742251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenDreamer/pseuds/RavenDreamer
Summary: She was smiling, a little, and Hollyleaf risked a smile of her own. "Not what you expected to be doing at the end of the world?"
Relationships: Hollyleaf/Ivypool (Warriors)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 26





	At the End of the World

**Author's Note:**

> In honour of Femslash February (and Valentine's yesterday), here's a oneshot I wrote while procrastinating on my longfic. Hope you enjoy!

“Ivypool?”

Although the word was only a whisper, barely louder than the chill night breeze, it made Ivypool startle. The darkness of ThunderClan's hollow, the moon and stars obscured behind heavy clouds, concealed the speaker from view. She turned around wildly, adrenalin surging through her body. “Who's there? What do you want?”

“Ivypool, it is you, right?”

The owner of the voice didn't sound disconcerted by Ivypool’s reaction. Ivypool squinted into the darkness, finally making out the shape of a tall, slim cat with fur as black as the surrounding night, and a pair of glowing green eyes. “Hollyleaf?”

Ivypool hadn’t expected anyone to come after her. Too stressed to sleep, much less able to dream her way to the Dark Forest, she’d snuck out of the apprentices’ den she shared with Dovewing, Hollyleaf and the actual apprentices. She’d come here, to the darkest corner of ThunderClan’s hollow, hoping that the cool air and the quiet would calm her in a way that the apprentices’ den couldn’t. The cats slumbering peacefully in the dens dotted around the hollow had no idea of the danger that was about to overtake the Clans. Or worse, they did know and were already in the Dark Forest, either still trusting Tigerstar’s rhetoric or too scared to defy it.

From what Ivypool had gathered from Tigerstar and Hawkfrost and Brokenstar, the Dark Forest was ready to attack soon, even in the next few days. And sometimes, Ivypool thought she was the only cat who understood what it was going to mean.

She hadn’t expected anyone to come after her when she left her nest. And she certainly hadn’t expected Hollyleaf.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Hollyleaf said. “Sorry if I startled you, I was just worried.”

“You didn’t startle me,” Ivypool said automatically. Then, after a pause, “Worried?”

“You didn’t seem to be sleeping. You okay?”

“I’m fine,” Ivypool replied. “Just, yeah, couldn’t sleep. I thought some fresh air would help.”

“Mmm,” Hollyleaf agreed, coming to sit against the wall of the hollow, next to Ivypool. “I’m having the same problem, actually. Mind if I join you?”

It was pretty blatant, what she was doing, but Ivypool didn’t mind. She sat down herself, both of them staring into the night. The cool stone dug into her back, and all the familiar ThunderClan scents washed over her, reminding her that she was home, safe. For now.

The silence stretched out between them, half calm, half tense. When Ivypool broke it, she felt the words spilling out of her like water from the beavers’ broken dam. “Hollyleaf,” she began.

“Yeah?”

“Do you think the Clans are going to make it?”

-

So this was what Ivypool was worried about, Hollyleaf thought. When she’d followed the tabby she-cat out of the apprentices’ den, she hadn’t known what to think - just that Ivypool was clearly worried about something, and now she was sneaking out alone. Something was up with Ivypool; you could see it in her constant cuts and bruises, and the haunted look in her blue eyes. And Hollyleaf knew all too well what could become of young cats who thought they had nothing left to lose.

Hollyleaf rarely slept well these days, struggling to adjust to having so many cats around her after the silence of the tunnels. Struggling to adjust to how few of them trusted her anymore. It had been no great sacrifice to leave her nest to check on Ivypool.

“I guess,” she replied. “They’ve survived quite a few disasters in the past. Why, are you worried that Sol will come back?”

Ivypool made a face. “Yeah, if only Sol was the biggest problem the Clans are facing right now.”

“So what is it?”

“I shouldn’t say,” Ivypool muttered. “But… Jayfeather and Lionblaze said you know about the prophecy?”

“Uh, yeah,” Hollyleaf replied. “We used to think I was part of it. Wait - _you_ know about the prophecy?”

“Same as you,” Ivypool said. “Dovewing’s part of it.”

“Ah. Yes.” It had been a bitter blow when Jayfeather and Lionblaze told her about Dovewing’s powers. Even though it had been a long time since Hollyleaf had really believed she was the third cat, she supposed that some part of her had kept hoping.

“Anyway,” Ivypool said. “Turns out the Three have to save the Clans from the Dark Forest. Who are going to attack us. Really soon.”

Hollyleaf stared at her, hoping for a punchline. “The _who_? Are going to _what_? Why didn’t Lionblaze and Jayfeather tell me?”

Back in the old days, the littermates had shared everything. She knew things were different now, that she was the reason things were different, but the end of the Clans - that seemed like something she ought to know about.

“Nobody knows about it,” Ivypool said, her voice low and anxious. “Only the Three and Firestar. And maybe the other medicine cats. And me. We’ve been trying to stop them, but the only thing we’ve managed is to find out how impossible it is to stop them.”

“That’s… not good,” Hollyleaf managed. Her mind was spinning, and Ivypool’s chaotic delivery wasn’t helping. “But look, can you tell me about this? Start from when you found out about the - the Dark Forest.”

Surprisingly, Ivypool did.

-

“StarClan,” Hollyleaf said. She didn’t say anything else for a few minutes, just stared into the darkness. “StarClan. You’re really brave, Ivypool, has anyone told you that?”

“I am?” That wasn’t the reaction she’d expected.

“Going to that place every night? Yeah, you are.”

“If I was brave,” Ivypool said. “I'd do something. Stop them. Not just go along and let it happen.”

Hollyleaf shrugged, her green eyes far away. “Doing something isn’t always the right thing, you know.”

Ivypool felt her lip curl. “That something you have experience with?”

“More than you’d think.” Hollyleaf seemed to be sincere, that far away expression still on her face. Ivypool thought of what little she knew of the events that lead Hollyleaf to flee ThunderClan, the murkiness that still surrounded Ashfur’s death despite Brambleclaw’s intervention.

“Looks like we’ve both got regrets, then.”

“Looks like,” Hollyleaf agreed. “Me more than you, probably.”

“You can tell me about them,” Ivypool heard herself say. She added, “If you want, I mean.”

“That’s - thanks. Might do that, actually. It’s not as easy to talk to Jayfeather and Lionblaze as it used to be, these days.”

They were quiet for a moment, but the silence wasn’t awkward as it had been earlier. The silhouettes of ThunderClan’s oaks and beeches loomed high above them, swaying slightly in the breeze. Beyond them, the moon peeked out behind the ragged edges of the storm clouds. The leaf-fall night had grown colder as they were standing there, and the lack of movement chilled Ivypaw to the bone. She shivered.

“Do you want to go back to bed?” Hollyleaf asked.

“Probably ought to,” Ivypool replied, more than a little reluctantly. Standing around talking wasn’t going to stop the Dark Forest, after all, and Brambleclaw had picked her for dawn patrol the next day. “Thanks for the talk, by the way. It’s been nice.”

“No problem,” Hollyleaf said. “Nice talking to you, too.”

“Except for the bad news about the Dark Forest, you mean.” “Except that,” Hollyleaf said. Ivypool had been turning to leave, but something about the tone of Hollyleaf’s voice - sombre and humorous at the same time - made her turn back around. And stay turned around when Hollyleaf says, “It doesn’t have to be _was_.”

-

“Sorry, what?”

“It doesn’t have to be _was_ ,” Hollyleaf repeats. She keeps her gaze focused on Ivypool’s expression, hoping that the other she-cat understands what she’s trying to say. That she’s not making a huge mistake. “It _was_ nice talking. It _was_ worth coming after you.”

“Oh,” Ivypool says, her blue eyes widening a little. “Okay. I can do that.”

She was smiling, a little, and Hollyleaf risked a smile of her own. “You think?”

“We can try," Ivypool said. "I want to try."

"Not what you expected to be doing at the end of the world?"

"Not exactly," Ivypool admitted, moving closer to Hollyleaf so their fur brushed. She was warm against the chill night, but Hollyleaf still shivered. "This what you expected to happen when you rescued me in the tunnels?"

Hollyleaf shook her head and smiled again. "What do you want to do now?" she asked. "Back to the den, or somewhere else?"

Ivypool wrinkled her nose. "Dovewing's in the den. And the apprentices."

"I meant to sleep!"

"I know you did," Ivypool said, a _mrr_ of laughter in her voice. "I'm not sure I'm gonna get to sleep, though. Do you want to go for a walk?"

"A walk sounds good," Hollyleaf said. She felt awash with happiness and something a bit like relief, the lightest she'd felt since her return to ThunderClan. Whatever this thing with Ivypool led to - whatever they and their Clanmates would face over the coming days - didn't matter as much as the lightness in her paws as she walked through the nighttime forest with Ivypool at her side. Ivypool's blue eyes glowed in the moonlight as she teased: _Hey, I told you you didn't have to worry about me and Redwillow_. There were hours left before dawn, and Hollyleaf intended to enjoy every one of them.

-

Ivypool didn't make it to the Dark Forest that night. And for just one night, she didn't care.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Please consider leaving a comment/kudos if you enjoyed <3


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